Boys’ soccer: Newbury Park’s trek is mind blowing
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Since becoming a blogger for The Times back in August, I’ve made a habit out of thinking too much about high school sports. It’s taken so much brain space that I had to unlace the skates on my last-place fantasy hockey team and it wasn’t until this afternoon when I realized the Boston Celtics are the best team in the NBA.
It’s been kind of scary at times -- nightmarish even.
Keeping that in mind, here’s what my thoughts have been like on the Newbury Park boys’ soccer team since it made the Division I playoffs:
- First Round -- Hmm ... the Panthers advance after downing Esperanza on penalty kicks. That’s kind of weird. Oh well, St. Francis will whoop them in four days.
- Second Round -- HOLY HEART FAILURE, BATMAN! They beat third-seeded St. Francis, 2-0! I thought the Golden Knights were one of the best teams around. Now I know why Phillip Muscarella is a little more clutch than his older bro, Vinny, on the football field: it’s because Vinny can score with his feet -- the guy has 13 goals! Let’s see the Panthers pull off another upset against San Clemente.
- Quarterfinals -- OK, OK, these guys are for real. I shouldn’t have doubted them after that road victory over St. Francis. Alex McKay scored his sixth goal in the 1-0 victory over those pesky Tritons. Nice.
- Tonight’s Semifinals -- They did it. The Panthers beat Los Alamitos, 1-0, in double OT thanks to Nick Harrison‘s clutch tally. This shouldn’t surprise me anymore, but it does. I guess all those hard knocks against Thousand Oaks, Royal, Calabasas and Westlake in the first half of the season morphed the Panthers into the best team in perhaps all of Southern California. An 11-game unbeaten streak and a flurry of clutch goal scoring by David Matic, McKay and Muscarella has made them the best team in my region. And to think: I’ve blogged more on Quartz Hill, Crespi and Calabasas than on these guys!
So can the Panthers beat top-seeded Santa Margarita in their first-ever divisional title appearance on Saturday?
Well, you know my thoughts.
-- Austin Knoblauch
-- Image from http://www.misdirections.com